


Kimberly Campbell's World of Horror

by MostCrabulous



Category: World of Horror (Video Game), 恐怖の世界 | Kyoufu no Sekai | World of Horror (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-02
Updated: 2020-09-18
Packaged: 2021-03-07 01:27:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26258665
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MostCrabulous/pseuds/MostCrabulous
Summary: Antisocial cheerleader Kimberly Campbell's sleepy college town isn't what it used to be. Things writhe in every shadow and behind every corner. Something terrible is coming.
Kudos: 10





	1. Chapter 1

Kimberly Campbell woke up in a cold sweat. What a horrible nightmare; something was... Somewhere... She couldn't remember the details, only the feeling. She groaned, opening her eyes. She saw her feet peeking out past the edge of the blanket. _Cold. That's what it was about._ That was funny to her-- nightmares because she had cold feet. Kim sighed and tried to get out of bed.

Her feet wouldn't move.

She stared at them dumbly and tried to force them to move. They wouldn't; She couldn't move anything. Kim felt the beginnings of a new wave of fear throbbing like nausea as she kept struggling. Then she heard it: A booming _thump_ came from outside, in the living room. A second later, another... Then another. Loud, heavy footsteps. Kim tried harder to move, straining everything she could, but her body stayed in place. Past her feet, straight ahead, the bedroom door was closed shut and locked-- a paranoid habit of hers. She gasped as the locked door opened.

There was nothing in the threshold of the opened door-- she saw the faint black outlines of the kitchen at the other end of the living room. The footsteps continued, stomping into the bedroom. Kim stared hard at her right foot and with all off her will, she begged it to _move. Move. Move._ It wouldn't. The footsteps curved around the bed and stopped there-- the invisible thing was hovering over her.

The sound that came next, whatever it was-- a scream, a roar, a hurricane-- it was deafening. Kim sobbed, helpless. Past her frozen foot, next to the door, she saw a laundry basket and her mind transfixed on it. _Basket. The basket is real. This isn't real._ Kim focused her gaze like a laser on the basket as the thing kept screaming. The moonlight shone off its white plastic and gave a glossy sheen to the running shorts draped over the edge. Kim stared, unblinking.

Kim gasped again as her right foot swung over the side of the bed. She pulled it back to her defensively, curling into a ball. She realized, moments later, that the screaming had stopped. She could move again. _Now_ she was awake. She exhaled and unfolded herself from the ball of terror, lying flat on the bed. She reached for the end table next to her head and groped around for her phone. 4:14 AM. First class starts at 8. _Just...awesome_ , she thought.

The bell rung at 10 AM and students started shuffling out of class. Kana, Kim's best friend, leaned away from her desk toward Kim. “So what's is sleep paralysis like? Like, what happens?”

Kim shrugged instead of answering. She was halfway through an oversize can of some battery acid energy drink and she felt like an old dishrag.

Kana was laughing at her. “Kim Camp, you look like an old dishrag.” Kim grunted and pushed her books into her backpack. Next class was across the pretty green field in the center of campus. She usually studied under a tree here, but today Kim couldn't stand how bright it was. She looked up at the sun and hissed. Kana laughed again. “Are you gonna make it to practice?”

Kim shrugged at her. “I'll show up,” she said. “I don't think I'm gonna do much else.” She didn't particularly _like_ being a cheerleader-- hell, she didn't even like smiling-- but Kim was good at it, and it impressed people. She didn't get a scholarship for it, but when she made it to college the team already knew about her. Just like in high school, she found herself pulled more than drawn toward it.

Kana met up with Kim again after classes, an hour before practice. Kim had shaken off the sleep-deprived morning stupor and was feeling herself again. When she saw her best friend, her eyes lit up and she said: “So, Kana! Mysteries!” Kana's eyes lit up too. This had been their obsession lately-- the news had gotten strange and dark and frightening over the past few weeks, and every night it seemed to get worse. A tall, pale man was wanted for questioning after a string of disappearances at the subway station. Fishermen at the coast have been pulling strange sculptures out of the ocean. A dentist was arrested for implanting dog teeth in his sedated patients. A lot of people-- a _lot_ of people-- were going missing. Kim had noticed people changing lately; everyone was quieter, fidgeting more, and it seemed like everyone kept peeking behind them as they walked to class. Something was going on, and Kim and Kana agreed that there must be a pattern to it all. Their investigations were for peace of mind more than anything else. Trying to do something about it felt better than sitting around and just soaking in the dread.

Kim didn't know if this was a lead or not – she doubted it herself – but it was strange, and that was a start. “You remember that woman who got murdered at my apartments last week?”

Kana nodded. She was eating a slightly burnt hot pocket as she spoke. “This is the strangling thing, right?” she asked, with her mouth full. “No evidence, nobody got in or out, no fire escape by her window. That freaked me out. Well, I'm sure you're _more_ freaked out, you live there.”

“Uh, yeah. Not great,” Kim said with a nervous laugh. “Nobody's seen the maintenance guy since then. I think we should check it out.” They sat in the corner of the cafeteria. It was empty, and the only other sound was one of the staff sweeping on the other side of the room. Kana rolled her eyes at Kim.

“That seems a little lazy, Kim Camp. We're investigating a mystery at your place? Like, we're not even going outside to solve mysteries. This is the Mystery Of Why Is My Sink Still Busted.” She took another bite, and thought while she chewed. She pointed the hot pocket at Kim. “This is the weird pervy guy, right?”

“Yeah, the creep. Remember I had you come over when he was replacing the blinds? I don't want to be alone with that dude.” Kim leaned over the table and furrowed her brow. “I'm serious about this, Kana.”

“I know, Kim Camp. I was _joking_. People invented gallows humor for a reason.” She threw the hot pocket's greasy cardboard sleeve in the trash as they left. “Go to practice. I'll be there when you get out, and we can get started."

The team met in the end zone of the football stadium. Usually the football team was using the rest of the space for practice; their unannounced absence today made the empty stadium fell eerie.

“What do you mean, _cancelled_?” The cheer team wasn't having it. Captain sighed and repeated herself for the third time: “The coach has announced, ladies, that due to unforeseen circumstances this weekend's game is postponed. Seattle and the league have agreed to play next weekend instead. This does not mean practice stops.” This was once again met with seven people asking Captain questions at once, and Captain answering most of them with a glare.

Kim wanted nothing to do with it. She was on the grass a few yards away from the crowd, doing her stretches and trying very hard not to get noticed by anyone. When she'd had enough, Captain yelled over the crowd “Okay, people, this is practice! None of you are warmed up! We are _twenty minutes in_! Stretch some legs instead of jaws, for god's sake. Kimberly!”

 _Ugh_. “Yes, Jackie?” Captain didn't like being called her name at practice. She like being called Captain. Kim was the only one who ever called her Jackie, and Captain resented that.

“You look warmed up, “ Captain said, “Why don't you start us off?” Kim hopped to her feet. “First routine, group 2 does cartwheel, kick, walkover toward center formation while group 1 attacks the crowd. Kim, you're in group 2. _Go, go go!_ ”

Kim hopped to her feet and stood straight up in the ready position, then dived into the move. As she reached a hand down to the grass, she kicked off with one foot and used the other to swing herself over her hand. The moment her feet hit the ground she launched into the air and did a split, kicked as far as she could in opposite directions. The momentum from the cartwheel had projected her forward, and she followed the momentum as she dove forward with both hands in front. She landed on her hands and once again kicked off the ground, spinning forward and landing with both heels touching, feet flat on the ground.

“Jesus, Kimberly.” A few of the newer cheerleaders were staring at her. “You make it look easy.”

Kim shrugged. “They're cartwheels, Kate.” She sat back down and waited for everyone to stop looking at her.

She didn't have to wait long. Another cheerleader turned to Captain and said “Wait, so...”

Practice descended into chaos once again.

Kana, as promised, was waiting for her outside. She didn't ask about practice or pretend to care. Her family in Japan thought she'd fall in love with American sports culture, but they bored her just as much on this side of the ocean as they did back home. The two didn't talk much on the way to the subway. The train cars were crowded; Kim hadn't seen them this crowded in a while. As the two pushed through to the back of the car, they saw why: The car behind this one was empty, with the door closed. The people there seemed disturbed by it. Kim looked through the window in the door and saw the back of a girl's head, sitting alone in the closed off train car. She stared at the loner for the whole ride to her apartment. Nobody would tell them what was going on.

A short walk later, and the two were at Kim's apartment. Kana said the first thing either of them had said since the subway: “Well, okay then!” They both laughed nervously. Kim went to her bedroom and pulled out a heavy binder, opening it to her notes on the murder.

“So,” Kim said, “Her door was locked, she was on the top floor, and there's no way anyone could have climbed that high. Police couldn't find a trace of any intrusion. So how did anyone get in?”

Kana was drinking Kim's last soda. She always seemed to get the last one. She stared at the ceiling and hummed, deep in thought. After a few minutes she sprung to her feet and announced to Kim: “I don't know!”

“Come on, Kana.”

“No, _you_ come on, Kim Camp. I'm not a detective.” Kana took another sip and swirled it in her mouth for a minute, still thinking. She swallowed sharply as a thought came to her. “Maybe someone could fit in the air duct.”

Kim's eyes lit up. “Oh, shit. Maybe.” She rifled through her notes and pulled out a map. “This is the apartment plan. It shows the whole layout of the apartments, and the vent shaft is... here.” She pointed to a long rectangle in the middle of the map, which split and forked into each apartment unit. “There's no way someone could have climbed from the ground floor, though.”

Kana was listening, but she wasn't looking at Kim. She was looking at the air vent above Kim's bed. “I think... I think it's good we're checking this out, Kim.” Both of them stared at the vent for a while. “So, “ Kana said, “Did Maintenance Pervert live here?”

Kim looked back at the map. “Yeah, he had some deal with management. He had a unit on... Oh, man. His unit was on the top floor.” The vents on the apartment plan showed a straight line from that unit to the victim's unit. “This doesn't mean that he, like, killed her, though.” Kim noticed her voice shaking, just a little bit.

“He's gone, right? Let's see if we can get into his apartment.” Kim gave Kana a look, which she shrugged off. “I can get into things.” As they were leaving the apartment-- “Just to have a quick look, then leave,” Kana promised-- Kim noticed a pile of mail on the living room sofa. She'd forgotten that she grabbed it on the way in. In the middle of the pile, a black-lined page stood out.

Kim grabbed the letter. “An art gallery? I didn't know they mailed invites like this.” She showed it to Kana. The header of the invite said _LOST RELIC ITHOTHU: FINALLY REVEALED_! Below the header was a photo of a jagged black totem displayed on a pedestal. The invite was for the local art museum that Saturday.

Kana shook her head. “I'm not really in the mood for creepy black obelisks right now, thanks.” They threw the letter back on the pile. As they headed out the front door, Kana said “Wait. Kim. Wait. Wear the uniform.”

Kim gave her a look. “What? Why? It would get dirty.”

“It _would_ get dirty, Kim Camp!” Kana was very excited about this. “It would get dirty because you're a _cheerleader_ who solves _spooky mysteries_.” Kim thought about that for a moment. Then she went and changed.

They were at Maintenance Pervert's unit a minute later. The top floor hallway was empty. It was silent except for something skittering behind the walls. Nobody answered when they knocked, and Kana's lockpicking skills were exaggerated. “Well, shit,” she said, giving up on the door. Behind her, she saw Kim looking at a business card.

“They give his card out at the front desk,” She said. “It lists an address over by Seaside. Maybe it's his office or something. Let's go.”

Back on the subway, everything was normal. No closed cars, and the ominous feeling from before was gone. Kim got a couple confused looks, fidgeting with her cheerleader uniform in the back of the car. It was a short trip to the Seaside district by the coast. Kim and Kana didn't see anyone on their way to Maintenance Pervert's address.

He was in unit B of a small complex off the coast. On the way there, Kim had looked up the property on an apartment finder website and picked through the 'Digital Walkthrough.' The pictures were from two months ago, and it looked like Maintenance pervert lived there with one or more roommates. They lived like pigs, too, apparently. The place was a mess. Kim and Kana stopped for a moment before they approached the unit.

“So we're aware this is stupid, right?” Kim said. “Like, this is stupid. We shouldn't go interact with Maintenance Pervert on a good day, and today is not a good day.”

Kana's response was short and simple. “Kim Camp, you're a crime-solving cheerleader.” And with that, they went up the stairs. The lights were off inside. When Kim went to knock on the door, she saw it was cracked open. The two stopped and listened; the apartment was silent. Kana nodded, and the two crept inside.

“Jesus Christ,” Kim whispered. It didn't look like anyone had been here for a hundred years. The wallpaper was peeling off the walls. At the end of the hallway ahead of the front door, large holes were rotting out of the wall. There was a low wooshing sound coming from behind it, stopping and starting again every few seconds. It sounded like wind was coming in from a hole outside, but it was still daytime and the holes in the wall were pitch black.

Kana's eyes darted to every corner in the apartment. “Did it look like this in the pictures?” Kim shook her head. Kana shivered. “What the hell happened here?” Kim pointed to a bedroom to the right. There were wood fragments where the door used to be. They saw a stack of air filters in the corner of the room; this is where Maintenance Pervert lived.

The room was barely furnished at all; there was a twin bed, reeking of sweat, and a moldy dresser next to it. Across the room there was the remains of a collapsed desk, with a broken laptop laying at the top of the heap. Behind it, in the corner...

“What the hell is this?” Kim whispered. It looked like some nutcase's shrine. In a circle around it were bundles of what looked like human hair taped together into a string around the center. In the center, on a wooden block, was a little wooden carving. It was the shape of a person, roughly carved with sharp angles all across it. There were brown stains streaking across the shrine. Blood. Kim and Kana exchanged a look, said nothing, and pocketed the strange figurine. Kana, rifling through the broken desk, pulled a glimmering metal sliver out of it. A key. They glanced at each other again and nodded. As they stood up to leave, they the clattering sound of wood fragments bouncing off the floor in the hallway outside.

Kim and Kana froze. There was a booming _thump_ outside in the hallway, then another, and another. Footsteps. The wooshing sound was louder now. When it stopped, there was a short gasp-- a wet, shaky sound-- and then it started again. It was getting closer. Kana's eyes darted around the room; there were no windows. No exits. They were cornered. Kim's breath rattled in and out as she curled a shaking hand into a fist. The thing from behind the wall lurched into the room.

It must have been a person, once: a human-shaped thing covered in scarps and rags. It looked like something had burned deep circular holes all over it, making it unrecognizable. They quivered as the hole-ridden thing exhaled, as if excited. Kana shrieked, backpedaling into the corner and knocking the twisted shrine over. Kim felt sick. Her mind raced, screaming _RUN RUN RUN RUN_! inside her head _._ There was nowhere to run. The hole-ridden thing took another step forward, reaching it large calloused hand toward her. There was a gaping hole in the flesh between its thumb and index finger. It was pitch black like space inside. _RUN RUN RUN RUN_! Kim stood in place, wide eyed. It felt ice cold when the hand grabbed her neck. The hole contracted on her skin like a suction cup and pulled at her. Her screaming mind shouted at her _IF YOU WON'T RUN, THEN FIGHT!_

Kim punched like she'd never punched before. Her left foot swung in an arc behind her as she twisted her torso into the swing. She howled with terror as she smashed her fist into its jaw. The thing's body went stiff like a board and crashed onto the ground. Sluggishly, it started to pull itself back up. Kim turned to Kana and screamed, “RUN!” Kana leapt over the thing, still shrieking, and bolted out the front door. Kim was right behind her.

They ran as fast as they could two miles to the subway station and pushed their way into the train car gasping and dripping with sweat. As soon as they sat down, Kana started sobbing. She would sit up straight every few minutes and try to speak, but words didn't come to her. Then she'd sink back down and cry some more. Kim tried to say something to her, but only a dry retch came out when she opened her mouth. She wrapped her arms around Kana and they rode back to her apartment without saying a word. Nobody on the train looked at them; on the other end of the car, someone else was crying too.

It was dark when they got back to Kim's apartment complex. Kana handed Kim the key wordlessly and they ascended the stairs to the top floor. The key worked, and slowly they gathered the will to enter Maintenance Pervert's unit. It wasn't rotted like his home was, but there was a rancid stench in the room that neither of them had smelled before. Kim stifled a gag as she looked through the piles of replacement parts and tools. There were documents of service requests, but nothing else. There was no fridge, no food; so what was that horrible smell?

“Kim.” It was the first thing Kana had said in an hour. She was pointing at the vent shaft; unlike other units, this vent was in the wall at chest height. The stench got worse as Kim approached it. She pulled the small fastener that held the vent shut and screamed as it burst open, the vent cover falling to the ground. The stench forced her eyes shut for a moment. It smelled like a whole freezer full of meat had spoiled, and she was trapped in the middle. She gasped for air and did her best not to gag as she opened her eyes.

There was a hand, rotted greenish-black, gripping the back of the vent cover. The arm attached to it trailed four feet off the ground into the vent shaft and looked like it kept going. The arm bent as if it was a rubber tube with no bones holding it straight. Kim's hands shook as she took out her phone and turned on the flashlight. Carefully, she inched toward the entrance of the vent. Kana's hand gripped her arm tight as she kept close, moving as Kim moved. Both of them let out a quiet whimper as they looked into the vent.

Maintenance Pervert's glassy eyes reflected the flashlight shine back at them. The long tube-arm traveled another six feet into the vent, draped over an opening in the bottom of the shaft. Another monstrous arm dangled into that opening. He had been dead for several days-- it looked like he'd gotten stuck there and died like a trapped rat.

The police were there minutes after Kana called them. There weren't as many as Kim expected-- only three arrived to investigate a dead body. They looked impatient, like they had something bigger to deal with. _Bigger than a dead body?_ They wrote down Kim and Kana's statements; the two mostly told the truth, but lied about breaking in. They said the unit's door was already open. They didn't talk about the hole monster at the Seaside apartment; The words just wouldn't come to them. The officer writing down their statements didn't talk much, but occasionally said “Uh-huh” as he wrote. He didn't believe them, but they didn't care. An hour later, Kim walked Kana to the subway station.

It was a long walk. They still didn't see anyone else around-- it was like the whole town was hiding. Kim's voice was very quiet now. “What the fuck were those things, Kim?”

Kim fidgeted with the dark wooden figurine. “I think something... I think something changed them. Maybe they did something with that shrine.”

Kana hummed in agreement. “Something really bad is happening.” They walked in silence for the last half mile to the subway. “Look,” Kana's voice trailed off for a moment before she spoke again. “I'm glad we're doing something, Kim. Somebody has to do something.”

Kim grunted. She didn't know what to say. They walked in silence for a while.

“...Oh, and you did get it dirty."

“What?” Kim looked down at the cheerleader uniform. It had dark splotches from the dust and grimy rotten wood of the Seaside apartment. “Oh, Jesus.” Kim sighed. “You were right, Kana. I look like an old dishrag.” Kana laughed for the first time in hours.

It was around midnight when Kim got back home. She glanced through her homework, groaned, and put it aside. Her binder was still on the bed; She took out the newspaper clipping describing her neighbor's death, and pinned it to the cork board hanging on her wall. Her first mystery. She pulled out a pink highlighter and wrote across it: “SOLVED?”

Kim was so exhausted she could barely drag herself to the shower to get ready for bed. After she started running the water, she went to the mirror to see how awful she looked. There was something on her neck that made her shriek with disgust and horror.

 _HOLE... There is a HOLE..._ Kim woke up on the floor-she must have fainted. There was a hole in the side of her neck—pitch black like space. Like the monster. _Hospital. Now._ She let out loud, ragged sobs as she turned off the shower and stumbled to the door. Her legs gave out and she slid down the wall to the floor, shrieking and crying. She can't make it there by herself.

It took her a moment to realize she was in an ambulance. She didn't remember calling them or leaving her living room. A female nurse was sitting above her, holding her hand and giving a fake 'everything's okay' smile. There was a male nurse standing by the back door, looking out the window. He had a gun. Kim said the first thing that came to mind: “Are you a cop?”

The nurse with the gun glanced at her, then back at the window. His eyes darted from one side of it to the other. He spoke in that smooth, gentle voice that nurses have but his words were quick and short. He said, “Cops are busy.”


	2. Chapter 2

Kim woke up in a hospital bed. She didn't know how long she'd been asleep... or how much of that was a dream. Sluggishly, she raised a hand to the side of her neck. There was a bandage taped over the hole. _Still real_ , she thought. _All of this is still real_. A nurse outside the room, a tired-looking woman around thirty, noticed she was awake and came in. “Good morning, Kimberly,” she said while flipping through papers on a clipboard, “How are you feeling?” Kim just stared at her.

“We ran some tests to see what we can figure out, but the results might not come back today. We're a little, uh...” The nurse glanced out the window in the door. “We're a little backed up today.” Far away, in another wing of the hospital, Kim heard muffled screaming and shouting. “Is there anything else I can do for you before we get you back home?”

Kim sat up and swung her feet off the side of the bed. “Is Jan in today?” Nurse Janet was the head ER nurse. When cheerleaders got injured-- and they got injured as often as the sports teams did-- they came here, and over time they'd started to see Jan as part of the team.

“Oh, she's always in,” The nurse said, “I'll see if I can get her.” As she opened the door, a pair of nurses carted a woman past Kim's room. The woman was strapped tight to a stretcher and muzzled. Kim could hear her whimpering and giggling as she struggled against the restraints. The noise faded away as they took the patient to another wing, and for a few minutes Kim was alone with her thoughts. She breathed a sigh of relief when the door opened, and saw Jan's smile.

“How you holding up, kiddo?” Jan sat at the corner of the bed. Kim shrugged and pointed at the hole in her neck. “That good, huh?” That made her laugh.

Kim rolled out of the bed and paced around the room. She felt restless after being here so long. “Jan, the nurse in my ambulance had a gun. Why did he have a gun?”

“Well, honey,” Jan seemed to have trouble finding the right words. “You know things have been pretty strange in this town lately. And last night, well... Last night it got a lot worse. Those, uh, _things_ you said you saw yesterday-- with the holes and arms and all-- we're seeing that everywhere.”

“Everywhere? This isn't natural, Jan. Even if there was, like, a chemical spill nearby-- that wouldn't turn people into _this_.”

Jan sighed. “I'm a medical professional, honey. I can't tell you something... _evil_ is happening. All I can tell you is we don't know what's causing it. Oh, _please_ stop touching it, Kim.”

“Huh?” Kim had been absentmindedly tapping the bandage on her neck as she paced. “Oh, sorry. So you're telling me there's nothing you can do about this?”

Nurse Janet frowned and shook her head. “We can watch and wait, and see how it plays out. Other people I've seen this week have similar conditions-- not exactly the same as what you've got, but things like we've never seen before. There could be a breakthrough soon, maybe, and then we'll have some answers. But for now, Kim, we should just get you back home.” Kim groaned and rolled her eyes.

“Listen, Kim.” Jan leaned in close with a deadly serious look on her face. “It's dangerous out there, and I want you to be careful getting home. We're gonna put you on the shuttle-- you're the first stop, couple miles down the road. Shouldn't be more than twenty minutes. If the shuttle stops before then-- or if someone tries to get on after you leave the hospital-- I want you to get off and run home as fast as you can.”

Kim began to speak up, but Jan gestured for her to stop. “Don't ask me any questions, I don't have any answers. Just a bad feeling. But _be safe_ out there, kiddo. And don't talk to strangers. I think today's gonna be... It's gonna be rough.”

The shuttle was an old school bus, painted white with _Oceanview North Hospital_ on its side in big, friendly letters. There were a few others on the bus. Kim sat close to the front, by the door, and kept her eye on them. She suspected Nurse Jan was right-- something _big_ is happening in this town. Nobody spoke as the bus pulled away from the hospital.

Kim kept glancing between the others on the bus and out the window. The streets were still quiet; there weren't many crowds, not much traffic, and everyone she saw outside looked like they were in a real hurry. Well, almost everyone: As the bus turned a corner, Kim saw five or six people singing and dancing in the street as they climbed into an old van. They were all wearing black robes, with hoods concealing their faces. The bus passed them by before she could get a better look, but she didn't like what she saw. A few minutes went by, and the streets were quiet. Then Kim jolted in her seat as the bus driver suddenly hit the brakes.

There was man in the middle of the road, waving his arms. He was wearing a hospital gown that went down to his knees. His bare legs and bare feet poked out from under it. Kim stood up and said, a little more loudly than she intended, “Don't stop for him! Keep driving.”

The bus driver turned to her with a blank look on his face. His eyes were glazed over, like he was looking through her more than at her. “He's a patient. I must've forgot him,” he said. His voice slurred a little bit. Kim looked back at the man who was now approaching the bus. She couldn't see his face-- it looked blurry, like how they censor faces on TV. Looking at him made her head hurt. The driver repeated, “He's a patient. I must've forgot him.”

Kim turned around and shouted to the rest of the bus: “Everyone needs to get off right now! Something bad is going to happen! We need to get out!” Nobody would look at her. They averted their gaze, looked out the window at nothing in particular, and waited for her to stop yelling. They must have thought she was crazy. Kim heard the door slide open behind her, and footsteps as the man walked up the stairs into the bus.

“Oh, thank you.” The man's voice creaked like old wooden floorboards when he spoke. Kim covered her face with her hands so she couldn't see him, and scooted past him towards the exit. As she stepped past the door, the man said “No. Keep her.”

She shrieked as the door slammed shut, catching her wrist. She did her best to ignore the pain, pulling at it as hard as she could. The bus made a whistling sound as the driver changed gears and began to drive forward. Just as the bus began to move, Kim pulled herself free.

Her hands and feet slid on loose gravel as she scrambled away toward the sidewalk. Gasping to catch her breath, Kim looked behind her. The bus was gone without a trace. She turned and started running home.

Outside of the white noise of the moving bus, Kim could hear strange sounds in the distance. Screams, mostly. The occasional _pop_ of gunfire. She hoped it was further away than it sounded. There was a shortcut through an alley she'd usually take home from this part of town; glancing into it from the sidewalk, she saw the silhouette of two men. The shadows covered their faces, but their eyes shone like four white beads in the darkness. When she made eye contact, they started approaching. Kim turned and ran for it.

The screaming was getting louder. Kim saw someone run across the street in front of her. Then another person, and another. Then she saw a large crowd stampeding down the road, away from something behind them. She ran with them. A woman behind her was screaming, “Don't look at it! Don't look at it!”

Two blocks down the street, Kim pulled away from the crowd and saw her apartment complex ahead. The crowd's wailing faded behind her as she burst through the front doors. The lobby elevator's doors didn't open when she punched the button. Busted. She took a deep breath and cursed before racing up the stairwell, panting and dripping with sweat. _This is too much exercise,_ she thought. _Even for a cheerleader_.

Three flights of stairs up, she'd made it to her floor. She heard someone shouting her name: “Okay, Kim, open up! I know you're home! I need-- oh, _shit_ – I need you to open up right now!” It was Kana. _What is she doing here?_

Kim turned the corner out of the stairwell and called out, “Kana! Why--” Something slammed into her shoulder, knocking her aside. She saw a yellow blur as someone raced past her, toward Kana. Kana's back was against the wall-- nowhere to run. Kim sprinted after the stranger. They had a metal bat in their hands, and they raised it as they got close to Kana.

Kana shrieked and dove away, barely dodging the swing. The stranger turned to swing again, and Kim got a clear look at him-- short, wearing a filthy hoodie and a hockey mask with a bright yellow smiley face spray painted on it. Kana jumped back toward Kim, dodging another swing. As the attacker wound back again, Kim pushed herself to run as fast as her legs would let her. Before the attacker could swing, Kim launched her foot in a running kick straight to his crotch. There was a faint crunching sound as the foot connected; the attacker howled and doubled over.

The two acted fast-- Kim grabbed the creep from behind and Kana wrestled the bat out of his hands. “Let him go!” She screamed, and Kim did. Kana howled and flailed wildly with the bat, and the attacker guarded his head with his arms. “Go! Away! Go! Away!” The stranger hissed something under his breath and retreated. The girls darted into Kim's apartment, locked the door, and grunted as they pushed the sofa in front of it as a barricade.

“Jesus, Kana. Are you okay? What are you doing here? Who was that guy?” Kim was doubled over, panting heavily. Kana groaned as she pulled her backpack off and dropped it on the floor. It hit with a loud _thud_ , like it was full of bricks.

“I _guess_ I'm okay? Kim Camp, it's been one thing after another all goddamn day today. Where were you? What happened to your--” Kana's hands shot to her mouth, and she was suddenly silent. The sweat had wore away the adhesive keeping the bandage over Kim's neck, and while Kana was speaking it had peeled off and fluttered to the ground. The hole, black like space, seemed to stare back at Kana. “That monster from yesterday did this to you?”

“It... Yeah, Kana. Hospital couldn't do anything about it. I don't know if I'm gonna end up like...” Kim's voice trailed off. She was exhausted, and terrified, and confused by it all. “... Like that guy did.”

Kana lowered her hands from her face and held them over her heart. Both of them stood there silently for a moment, just looking at each other. Kana had a few cuts and scrapes, and her clothes were ragged and splattered with grime from whatever she'd had to deal with on her way here. She looked like she wanted to cry, too.

“Kim, maybe if we can stop... all of this, then you'll get better.” The backpack creaked as she pulled a notebook out of it. She looked up at Kim with an excited glint in her eye. “And I think I know what's causing all of this.”


	3. Chapter 3

The gentle humming sound of the running shower drifted out of Kim's bathroom. Kana liked the sound; it was relaxing. After the day she'd had, she was happy to have a brief moment of calm. She reached into her binder of paranormal notes-- hers was dark purple, Kim's was a loud hot pink-- and pulled another page out. It was a printout of a textbook scan she'd found online. She taped it to the cork board in Kim's bedroom, the sixth in a series of pages she'd lined up. She stood back, hands on her hips, and inspected her work.

“We need yarn for this, Kim.”

Kim's voice floated out of the shower. “What?”

“Like, we look like amateur wingnuts right now. A good conspiracy board has yarn connecting the dots.”

“I can't hear you.”

“Ugh. Nevermind.”

Kim finished her shower a few minutes later, stepping into her closet to get dressed. She came out wearing a black T-shirt she'd got at a _Daughters_ concert and a red pleated skirt. She saw Kana coming back from the kitchen. She was holding two Indian microwave dinners, and offered them up for Kim to see. Kana gave her a glance up and down and hummed.

“So we're both gonna wear black?” Kana was wearing her favorite shirt: a boyish black button-down with rough-sketched white triangles printed all over.

Kim shrugged. “I'm gonna wear the varsity jacket over this. Besides, it's a good time to be goth.”

“Good point. You want Butter Chicken or Vindaloo?”

It was a trick question; Kana _hated_ spicy food. Kim grabbed the Vindaloo. “Let me eat before we get to the freaky stuff,” Kim said. Kana nodded and they sat on the bed. The two destroyed their meals in under a minute; They were _starving_.

Kana jumped to her feet. “Oh-Kay-Kim-Camp!” She said it in a cheerful cadence. Kim responded with a rhythmic _clap, clap, clap-clap_ - _clap_. “So we start with this card you got yesterday:” She pointed to the art gallery's invitation to see the black obelisk Ithothu. “I dug up some stuff on this: It was in the Library of Alexandria when it burned down-- a couple Roman sources denied burning it down, everyone else says they did-- and it must have been a few hundred years old when it got there.”

She tapped the picture on a printed out Wikipedia page next to the invite. “Ithothu looks _just like_ the totems in this religion, which was practiced in the region at the time. They said these totems would grant blessings to those who prayed to them-- but if you did something to _offend_ the totem, it would curse your land. Like, the rain totem would make it never rain on your farm again if you pissed it off, et cetera.”

Kana raised a finger in the air. “Anyway! They said evil spirits would create _fake_ totems that promise you things and then _curse_ you if you pray to them-- and if you insult these fake totems, instead of cursing you they're just banished forever or something. And the history nerds described the bad totems as 'Black like volcanic glass-- obsidian.' “

Kim stood up off the bed. “Wait, so Ithothu grants wishes... and then curses you. Do you think that means Maintenance Pervert...” She couldn't help but cringe. “Do you think he _wished_ for that?” Kana gave her a frown that said _yes_. “Oh my god, dude. Gross. _”_

“I know. And I think his apartment-- and his roommate-- they got caught in the ritual area or something. Like it's cursed ground now. There are other cases around town, too, that look like the same thing. Rotted house, monsters, so on. Take a look at this one.” Kana pointed at a news clipping on the board. Kim reached for the sheet, then froze.

She saw a new hole on her forearm, the size of a nickel. She and Kana stared at it for a moment, then Kim looked her in the eye. It had only been a few hours since the first one appeared. “Time's up, Kana. We need to break this goddamn curse.” Kim's eyes darted across the board. “How do we 'offend' it? How do we kill it?”

There was a tense silence for a moment. Kana spoke first. “I think it has something to do with the Alexandria fire... which means maybe it's associated with fire! You've got a fire extinguisher in your kitchen, right?”

Kim nodded and gestured toward the metal bat leaning against the wall. “I was just gonna hit it with that.”

“I mean that's not a _good_ plan, but I don't have a good plan either. I'll take the extinguisher, you take the bat.”

“Sounds good. Art gallery's across town-- how long would it take the subway to--”

Kana cocked an eyebrow at her. “The _subway_?! Have you never seen Train to Busan?”

“Train to what?”

“Oh my god, Kim Camp! I'm gonna make you watch horror after this. We are _not_ getting on the subway in the middle of this.”

Kim groaned. “Well we can't just walk there, we'd get eaten alive. Like, we'd literally get eaten alive. Mimi has a car, but she's on shift at the hospital. She's got her hands full.” Mimi was their friend in the university's nursing program-- the two of them shivered thinking about what she must be going through.

“She's gonna be okay, Kim. She's weird enough for this.” Kana said this in a soft voice, and then they were quiet again. After a long minute, her eyes lit up like a lightbulb turned on in her head. “Hey, your apartment's by the airport, right?”

Kim shook her head. “We're, like, an hour away.”

“But they advertise like they're in the area! I saw it on the website. That _could_ mean...” Kana whipped her phone out. Kim fidgeted awkwardly while she waited for her to find whatever she was looking for. She noticed herself tapping at the new hole on her arm, then cursed and stopped herself. Finally, Kana said, “Here! A rental car place, four blocks away.”

Kim threw her arms in the air in exasperation. “Kana, what? You have to be 25! We can't even buy alcohol.”

Kana pointed a finger gun at her best friend. She had that look in her eye that told Kim she had a _really_ bad idea.

“We're not old enough to rent a car, Kim Camp. But we're old enough to steal one.”


End file.
